After only 72 days I finally got my baby! I have a TON of parts waiting to go on but first things first I will be getting a baseline dyno and 1/4 mile time. I will go ahead and start putting on the mods (appearance and such) that do not affect performance at all. I will try to take as many pictures as possible and post them up as I get them done.

Here are a few pics of me picking up my car and my first day with my car, I still have yet to come up with a name for her.

My wife picked out my car's name and it is PERFECT. She named her Ginger!

First batch of mods!
3/21/11 I had a little spare time so I threw in my premium floor mats and installed the splash guards, quarter flairs, what ever you want to call them. I was thinking the splash guards were going to look goofy, but i actually like them a lot. they really look like they belong on the car and not like just an extra add on. On the floor mats, I took out the stockers (didn't know the car didn't come with rear floor mats, or did I get jipped at the dealer?) and threw in the premium ones, they look 100x better!
Total for today's mods: $299.10
GM premium floor mats $125.95
GM IOM splash guards $173.15

3/22/11 Installed my personalized plates, rear view mirror w/LCD screen and camera today. The mirror is quite a bit bigger, almost too big, but I like it. You can see SOOO much with the top down it is crazy, almost feels like I am looking into one of those big security mirrors, LOL.
Total cost of toady's mods: $881.05
10 years of personalized plated $495 (that was without lube)
GM rearview mirrow w/LCD $267.50 (can be found cheaper)
Boyo license plate camera $79.95
2SSRS's harness $38.60
Mirror and camera install thread http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136532

3/25/11 Installed my LED DRL, wired my halos and DRL together and stuck on the front, rear and mailslot black outs. I want to eventually get the black outs painted on but this will do for now. This was my first time installing vinyl graphics so they aren't perfect but it came out decent. The LED DRL were SUPER easy to install and wire to my halos. So now my halos are always on when my DRL are on and vice versa.
Total cost of today's mods: $155.96
LED DRL $53.98
Vinyl black out kit $98.99 (ugh, just found it for $69.99)
Quick splices $2.99
Installing vinyl black outs http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137103
Halo/LED wiring thread http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137102
3/26/11 Finished the last of my vinyl stuff today and painted my rear tail light bezels flat black (the chrome was really throwing off the look on the rear of the car). Almost done with my flat black out look and i LOVE the way it is coming along!
Total cost of today's mods: $44.99
$17.01 for the side gills http://rpidesigns.com/
$24.99 for the light black out kit
$2.99 for the Krylon flat black rattle can
Here is the light tint, side gills and bezel painting thread. http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=137361

4/9/10 Today I plasti dipped my wheels. I will be getting my black 18" F14 wheels in a couple of weeks, but I wanted to see my car with black wheels already and this looked like a good cheap idea. I give it two big thumbs up! I also removed my chrome side "Camaro" emblems. I was going to put black ones on, but I really like the clean look of no side badges.http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140024
Today's cost of mods: $12.95
$12.95 two plasti dip 11oz spray cans
4/10/11 Today I spray painted my $45k car, EEK! I am not sure how long these painted parts will last until they start chipping, I am going to order professionally painted parts eventually, but I just wanted to give this a go. I took off the front/rear SS badges and the front bow tie. I didn't want to mess up my rear vinyl so I painted the rear bow tie on the car. I used GM IOM spray paint and the bow ties came from my vinyl kit. I still want to get SS inlays for the badges, black for the front and IOM for the rear. http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140265
Today's cost of mods: $15.19
$15.19 GM IOM 6 oz spray touch up paint

4/17/11 Today I installed my vinyl "SS" emblem inlays. It was kind of a pain to get them perfectly straight and the orange inlay doesn't match perfectly with the IOM, but it's close enough for me.
Today's cost of mods: $9.99
$9.99 Two sets of Black and orange SS inlays

5/5/11 So I finally got another mod out of the way. This one is not an appearance or performance mod, but a safety mod. I fitted my convertible with a compact spare tire. I saw the threads about the Ebay kit, but if you haven't realized already I am super cheap and $430 plus shipping would be dangerously close to $500. So I got to sniffing around trying to find some good deals. I ended up putting together my own kit for about
Compact tire thread http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145475
Today's cost of mods: $181.52 (sold my extra spacer $75)
$80 a pair of 2.5" spacers
$70 machine shop making the center bore 67.1mm
$41 155/80 18 tire
$65.52 brand new GM spare rim

6/29/11 Got my powder coated calipers today! This pretty much finishes off all of the planned appearance mods I wanted to do to my car. I honestly can't think of anything else I would do appearance wise to my car. The orange doesn't match the IOM perfectly (the calipers are a little bit lighter), but it is pretty close. It is nice to know my wallet woin't be taking anymore hits that won't make my car faster. The swap was pretty easy, just had the wife pump the brakes while I bled them.

I REALLY want to drive next to my car to see these calipers through the spinning wheels on the road!

Total cost of todays mods: $330
Caliper swap from Mike: $330

8/8/11 This has annoyed me more often than I can count. I am cleaning my car or out driving around and I want to put my top down. I pull off to the side of the road, unlatch the top and nothing happens. The damn safety net thing isn't pulled out! I have to get out of the car pop, the trunk, oh wait, the trunk won't pop unless I latch the top back up! I latch the top, pop the trunk, get out of the car, walk to the trunk, open the trunk, pull out the clearance net, try a couple of times to get both ends in the slots, close the trunk, get back in the car unlatch the to for the second time and now I can FINALLY put my top down!

I hardly ever have anything in my trunk, when I do it is not big enough to poke up past the clearance net, but I have to close the net to put in or pull out whatever goes in the trunk and then pull out the net in case I want to drop the top. It gets real annoying, real quick.

So i decided to find a way to bypass the (I assume it's some type magnetic type) net sensor. I was thinking maybe put a magnet on it or use a resistor to jump the sensor, turns out all you have to do is unplug it! So I unplugged it, used a 10 mm nut driver and pullet the net out. It weight a good 2-3 lbs and taking weight out of my car always puts a smile on my face!

Now i can operate the top with out having to go in the trunk to pull that annoying net out.

Another plus is that it gives yo a couple extra inches if you put something big all the way up against the back of the trunk, which would have been helpful on my trip this last weekend when i shoved some suitcases back there. http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163839

3/26/11So today was a GREAT day! Went to the track and dynoed it right after. I had a horrible time tryingWELL, first off it was a bit slower than i though. I was expecting a 13.40 @ 107 and it only went a 13.901 @ 103.94 DA was 2640' Corrected for 2,640 DA that would be a 13.466 @ 107.376.

There are a few reasons of why it was slower than I expected, I haven't raced a manual tranny car in about 5 years, that car was my 98 SS that weighed 2980 with me in it, 28" slicks, 4.56 gears so all i had to do to get a 1.4 60' was rev it to 6,000, drop the clutch and hold on. This car is a completely different animal. My biggest problem was that I could not for the life of me get a good 60', it either bogged or wheel hopped. The first 60' felt like poop on every run, after that it pulled a lot better than i thought. The car having only 550 miles is probably not broken in yet, now that i think about it today was the first time I have had the car over 3k RPM, LOL! I just couldn't wait to go to the track or dyno it cause i have all the parts in our spare room waiting to get installed but I wanted my straight off the showroom floor numbers. But excuses are like a$$holes and everyone has one. Bottom line, not as fast as I had hoped but at least it made it in to the 13's. It would have been a huge embarrassment if it was stuck in the 14's. I'm sure more break in, more practice launching on these tires and some negative DA it might dip into the low 13's.

Speaking of numbers, today I found out Ginger (my car's name, the wife thought it up and it fits PERFECT) is a big girl! I knew she was heavy but WOW. I had her on the track scale and with me in it and half a tank of gas she weighed in at, drum roll please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4,320 lbs!
I figure I'm about 220 lbs fully clothed including my helmet and half a tank of gas is about 60 lbs so the car's dry weight is about 4,040 lbs or so. I'm hopping to bring this down about 100 lbs with some of the mods I am doing.

Another funny side note is that the last time I had my 6,200 lb Escalade ESV (yeah the long one) at the track was before I added the turbo and it ran a 8.976 @ 77.16 MPH. Compared to the SS's 9.133 @ 80.83 MPH today LOL!

Also hit up LG motorsports after the track to get my stock dyno numbers. I was expecting 360ish so I was pretty happy with the results. I don't know how much it matters but when the guy dynoed my car my rear tires were still low on air from just running at the track. They were at 24 psi and I remember that tire pressure can affect dyno numbers a little.

7/28/11Went to the track with some buddies today! I went this time with my new wheels and all my bolt on mods completed. The next mod will be going in the motor to install the cam and springs. Best time was 13.205 @ 110.79. Corrected for the HORRIBLE 3,351 DA that would be a 12.669 @ 114.165.

So with full bolt ons and about 5,000 more miles on\ the car I picked up .797 seconds and 6.789 mph in the 1/4 mile. Coming up next is a dyno to see how much rwhp I have picked up.

10/1/11

So I went down to Houston for the Texas Camaro Nationals, but couldn't stay for the racing Sunday so I dynoed and got a few runs in on Saturday.

A big thanks to LoneStarCamaro for getting these videos of my car.

This was Ginger's first time on drag radials and I was VERY limited on time so I didn't get to experiment with different psi settings and rpm for a decent launch so I couldn't muster a good 60'. Best time was:

Here is a Video of me racing HPE650Ragtop. He was on street tires so I was able to get out on him enough to take the W.

Time slip

Me racing a supercharged Roush 427R Mustang

The time slip.

11/5/11

Got a new best today. No changes really, still just bolt ons.

Corrected for +1,429 DA: 12.161 @ 114.515

4/29/12

Raced Ginger against The Beast!

2/2/13

New best MPH, slower ET. Stupid 28" tires.
So I finally made it out to the track, It's been almost a year since I have been. My best is 12.35 @ 112.91 w/1.89 60 ft and today i ran a 12.48 @ 114.16.

I have always said 28" tires were too big for our heavy, under geared cars and tonight proves it. I could not get out of the hole AT ALL with these giant meats, it just kept bogging. With my 26" tires I rode a fine line of getting a decent hook or spinning. I couldn't get these big ole 325/45 17 M&H tires to spin at all. The only good thing was that I was able to cross the traps in 3rd and that probably accounts for the slight bump in MPH.

I don't really know what is next. I want to finally install that 231/236 cam that I bought almost a year and a half ago so I can have that nice lumpy idle and finally break into the 11's, but I know a clutch will soon follow.

OR....

I was thinking about finally biting the bullet and getting a 9" set up with some 4.10 or 4.30 gears. That will solve the getting out of the hole on these giant tires problem and I won't be paranoid about blowing up my stock rear AGAIN every time i go to the track.

I was thinking about downsizing to some 26s but with my car being so slammed I like how the 28s raise my car up a little. Plus I sold my 26"fronts to get 28" fronts so I could drive around town with the Welds and not get the traction control lights.

3/30/11 Ok, i tried to install all the parts in the first picture in two days, didn't happen. I was able to finished the COMPLETE BMR suspension (trailing arms, toe rods, front/rear sway bars, 1.4" lowering springs, complete pro bushings kit) and the complete XSPower 1 7/8" long tube headers and matching 3" full exhaust. The car now handles like it's on rails and sounds

EDIT:BTW, these DO NOT throw a code! I thought they did because they have an off road X pipe with no cats, but it turns out that one of the wires on my home made O2 extensions had come loose when I installed it. Now that I fixed it no more engine light!

Obviously every car is different and they might throw a code in your car, but I am just letting you know what is happening with my car. This system comes with 6 O2 bungs. There are 2 on each header collector and 2 on the X pipe. I installed the front O2s on the top collector bungs, the rear O2s on the side mounted O2 collector buns and left the X pipe bungs capped off with the provided caps.

4/1/11 Today i finished up the last of my pile of mods! I installed a 160* thermostat, ASP under drive pulley, LSR Tri-ax shifter and a Volant CAI. The intake seems like it made my exhaust a little louder which is even more awesome! The shifter was another huge pain in the ass to install but it was soooooo worth it. The shifts are now amazingly short!http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=138511

4/5/11 Today I replaced my BMR 1.4" lowering springs with some BMR 1.0" lowering springs (I had ordered both the 1.4" 1nd 1.0" in case the 1.4" was too low). I LOVED LOVED LOVED the look of the 1.4" drop but when I tried to chase down why it was a little bouncy I found that the rear struts were sitting on the bump stops. I cut the bump stops to give the rear suspension some room to travel and the rear of the car dropped another 1". This of course was unacceptable. I called Apex and BMR, both had GREAT customer service. They said that I was pretty much the first convertible to install these springs and together we figured that the verts are probably too heavy for the 1.4" drop. They said to send them back for a full refund. The pics of the car with the black wheels is with the 1.0" drop.
6/5/11 FINALLY got my wheels in. Forgestar F14 18x8.5/18x11 with 245/45/18 & 315/40/18 drag radials. There is too much to list in this post so go here to check out the full details. http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=151258
Cost of today's mods: $2,116.80
18x8.5/18x11 Forgestar F14 $1,299.00
Nitto NT05R drag radials (mounted and balanced) $617.80
off brand 245/45/18 (mounted and balanced) $150
Mounting, balancing, swapping sensors $50

6/6/11 Installed my VMAX ported throttle body today. Biggest waste of money. I felt no difference and all the dynos I have see show no power gains. I will also never buy anything from Janetty racing I had to wait 8 weeks on something they said would take 2-4 weeks and when i tried to cancel my order half way in they wanted to charge me $71 even though they had done nothing but charge my credit card.
Cost of today's mods $171.70
Vmax ported TB $171.70

7/2/11 So I have a goal of reducing Ginger's weight without taking anything away from being able to daily driver. I was a little worried about this battery not holding up, since I always have my Ac on, stereo blasting and raise/lower my top multiple times everyday. I have had it on for almost a week now and it has been GREAT! It actually has a little more voltage than the stock battery. Keep in mind I also have the ASP under drive pulley so the alternator is spinning slower than stock and the battery still hold up great. Only think I don't do anymore is sit in the car with it off and lights/stereo on or operate the top. Stock battery is about 44 lbs and this one is just under 15 lbs. I also removed the compressor/slime and styrofoam holder. So all together I lost about 36 lbs. I used some foam pads I had laying around to secure the battery in the stock location. http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=157157

Cost of Today's mod: $158.52
Braille 2015 15 lb battery $158.52

I just checked Ebay and found one for $130 shipped

8/26/11 Installed an Apex ram air scoop and relocated the washer bottle.

2/8/12 I hadn't planned on getting Ginger a driveshaft but I found a KILLER deal I just couldn't pass up! The install was pretty easy and very straight forward. I had to call The Driveshaft Shop and ask them for the torque specs and check a couple of things. They were great and very helpful even though I bought it used, nice bunch of guys.

I don't like big wheels and I'm going for the flat black look so I was going to swap wheels out anyway. The 18's with tires are going to be 60 lbs lighter than the stock 20's. Losing 60 lbs of rotating weight will equal more power, better acceleration, better braking, better handling, better gas mileage, better everything!
I will be going with these EXACT wheels but my tires will be a little bit shorter.

Had a million and one things to do today, but I did get around to cleaning out the garage, giving the car it's first bath, threw in the floor mats and installed the splash guards. It was too dark for pics but I will post some tomorrow.

Man, good idea on the reserved blocks, wish id thought of that. Was never a big fan of the orange interior, but it really looks good on the vert w the top down!

I thought it might be too much orange, but I did a lot of reading and everyone who had that fear said that the interior was the thing they got the most compliments on. After looking at so many pictures of this interior all black just seemed too boring. A flashy colored car need flashy interior.